Buwanang Imbakan: Oktubre 2011

i really shouldn’t be the one making this review because i wasn’t the person who experienced Jacq Galvez’s magic. 🙂 all i can say is that the results she delivered were absolutely more than what we paid her.

we already had a couple of referrals from friends who got married first but i wanted A to “experience” a sample of the make-up and maybe see if she gets good vibes from her make-up artist. so we went to one of these wedding expos at the mall and met jacq there. we kind of snooped around first, trying to see if her work matched A’s taste in make-up. since there were no string attached in getting a sample make-up, i coaxed A into trying it out. their session took about an hour so they told me to go around the mall first. (yippee! “Me” time! :P)

i just realized that i haven’t posted anything about our barkada’s trip outside of the country. i went to india way back in 2008 methinks but this was my first time to travel abroad for pleasure and not for work. it was planned way back january this year because of the seat sale of cebu pacific. plus because we have friends in both countries working there, we could save a little on accommodation. 🙂

first stop was in kuala lumpur. we had our flight in the morning at NAIA Terminal 3 and i was slightly nervous because we were trying to think if we would survive the itinerary that was set up for us… including the gastos! 😛

at the check-in area, everything was OK. maluwag kasi sa T3. maayos din yung pila so we queued on the open counter to get our boarding passes. one little hickup: apparently, the tickets we bought from Cebu Pacific don’t include government taxes. i didn’t experience this with my first international trip so it was kinda weird. they pointed us to the counter and i felt i just got held up. Php 1,620.00 per person! hindi pa nga ako nakaka-apak ng eroplano, wala na ang Php 3,240.00 namin ni A! we didn’t account for that so bawas na yun sa budget namin for the trip. 😦

we got our boarding passes and then went through the next stage of pre-flight procedures in NAIA — the terminal fee. if i remember correctly, it’s Php 750.00. i expected just around Php 500.00 but clearly, i was misinformed. another slash off the vacation budget. 😦

here comes the best part: immigration. and i just had a little problem with the big girl in the counter. i’ve heard and read a lot and it seems that everyone complains about immigration people in the airport. well, i am officially one of them now. maybe it was a bad day, maybe it was a long day for her, but i didn’t care to justify her attitude. wala din akong pasensiya that day i guess.

it’s been some months now that Christopher Lao gained notoriety in the world wide web for being called *insert any derogatory term here* by a lot of people primarily of his interview in a news report. because of which, the words “i should have been informed” are now immortalized, along with a bunch of excuses and other stuff. i was one of those who could not believe what he said during the interview and perplexed how a bright young mind could say those things. still, i didn’t go to the extreme of bashing the person or start to call him names. is that my bias for a fellow alumnus? i don’t know. but his public statement to save face did make me respect him a little more. he’s smart when calm. and now, as with anyone who has fallen and been laughed at, he tries to get up and dust himself off and laugh with them.

yeah, it’s clearly painful acting (he can’t seem to contain his disbelief he’s actually doing what he’s doing on camera) but maybe he’s really just “having fun” doing this. or maybe laughing at how an unfortunate event could turn his life around and make him an endorser!

don’t sulk and drown yourself in your mistakes.
don’t be afraid to laugh at yourself. thank you for teaching us that Christopher Lao.

Pinoys thrive on celebrities. a pinoy will not survive if he or she does not get a glimpse of an actor, singer, politician, or any famous person in a day. it has been known that the real punishment for inmates in the New Bilibid Prison is not the prison sentence itself but the limited access to the TV for your favorite soap opera. riots have broken out not because of staring contests but debate who’s the better villain: Lex Luthor or Amor Powers.

meanwhile, outside the Bilibid, crimes are still being committed in the names of Derek Ramsey, Anne Curtis and Christine Reyes.

and almost every pinoy on facebook has a “celebrities i’ve been with” album. people want to associate themselves with celebrities. heck, if they could make them their relatives (or attempt to make a connection that only separates them by 5 or 6 persons), they would! but that’s us trying to reach them. this other celebrity i know is trying to reach out to us.

i was definitely blessed to see the on-going exhibit of Blessed Pope John Paul II’s relics at the gateway mall. though not a ‘devotee’ of the late Pope, i still feel like he’s a lolo (grandfather) who wants to hug me like an apo (grandchild).

sabihin niyo ng “feeling close” but that’s how i see it. that’s how most pinoys see it — that the Holy Father has a special place in his heart for the Filipino people. it may or may not be true but with the value and love we show for the Blessed Pope, it’s difficult not to feel that way. or maybe it’s his warm smile and welcoming nature that attracts people — not just us pinoys.

as i went around the exhibit and read his words with his pictures, it brings a melange of emotions. they were spiritual, wise, and heartfelt messages to the youth, to various sectors of society — families, the media, governments — everyone, and their role in the Church and their role for Christ. you will definitely say that the Pope knew Christ intimately by reading through his homilies in the exhibit.

though not yet a canonized Saint by the Catholic Church, i’ve seen people touch, hold, and pray with their eyes closed around the Pope’s relics. they’re probably asking for his intercession or blessing. but as a reminder to all Catholics, i share St. Jerome’s message:

“We do not worship, we do not adore, for fear that we should bow down to the creature rather than to the creator, but we venerate the relics of the martyrs in order the better to adore Him whose martyrs they are.”

we are all called to be saints. so take care of your body and everything you own. who knows, they might be relics that might draw others closer to Him in the future. 🙂

“When the sacredness of life before birth is attacked, we will stand up and proclaim that no one ever has the authority to destroy unborn life.”